Tales of adventures in quilting, gardening, photography and cooking from the Kingdom of Chiconia

Tag Archives: hatbox quilt

Bet you thought I wasn’t going to be posting any blocks for BM&I this month!

Cyclone Debbie gave me a hall pass, but I’ve turned up very nearly on time anyway. Reason being, I had these two blocks cut out and partly assembled before the Big Wind arrived, and I allowed myself a break from janitorial duties on Saturday and Sunday to finish them up. There should be three, but never mind… Lynn at Tialys and I agreed to make three a month till she’d finished her wall hanging and I the 36 blocks I need for a quilt. She’s made three gorgeous ones this month – I particularly like the last one – so get over there and take a look.

Here we are, Blocks 23 and 24.

I think the black one with splashy pink and orange flowers is one of my current favourites. I’d definitely buy a hatbox in that colour-way if I saw one! But the flutterbys are pretty too, and the gold print detailing isn’t too overpowering.

Bee, Myself and I is a forum for ‘selfish sewing’; any stitchery which is purely for pleasure and not for anyone else. The original concept belongs to Carla of Granny Maud’s Girl. To find out more, you can click through on either her blog link, or using the button a fair way down in the left hand column.

So, sorry that I’m slightly late this month. I’ll try to do better next time, acts of nature permitting. See you back here for April’s blocks 🙂

This is number 19. I love the bright pink tulip fabric, especially contrasted with the peppermint green of the edge of the lid.

Here’s the rest of the line up so far. Not necessarily the final layout, but they do sit harmoniously together in this arrangement.

And here are the fabrics for the sashing and the binding. I can’t get the colours quite right; both fabrics are shot cottons, and it’s hard to convey the lovely shading from one colour into another. It’s a while till I’ll be cutting into these lovelies, but I’m glad I have them to look at and stroke 🙂

Lynn from Tialys has decided to resurrect her own hatbox project, and if you nip over to her blog some time today, you’ll be able to see her take on this gorgeous Kaffe Fassett block design. She won’t be going quite as bonkers with it as I have, though; she’s sensibly sticking to a manageable wall hanging! It’s going to be most enviable, though – she’s using Liberty prints…

Meanwhile, if you want to know what Bee, Myself and I is all about, click on the link button further down in the left hand column, or head over to Carla’s lovely blog, Granny Maud’s Girl, where there are many gorgeous things to look at.

I couldn’t bear to wait till the end of January for the official BM&I posting day….

There are so many lovely fabrics sitting in the Hatbox Quilt pile, and I couldn’t resist their siren call. So, without further ado, here are the next FOUR Hatbox blocks.

I’m now officially halfway through the blocks I need to make. The process of tracing, basting and appliquéing the boxes to their backgrounds is peaceful and meditative, and I’ll miss it when the quilt is done, but already there are other appliqué quilt ideas marinating in the dark recesses of my brain!

I’ve finally decided what colour to make the sashing between the blocks. It was never going to be white or cream, that decision was easy. And black and dark grey and navy were too harsh in contrast with the pastels and saturated colours. It needed to be a neutral that wasn’t neutral. And I’ve found just the thing. It’s a pale grey/lilac/dusty blue shot cotton which calls itself cornflower, but is a pale lavender to my eyes, a blue tone rather than pink. It will punctuate the space between the squares without being over assertive. It’s also a colour I love, so I will be very happy to live with it on this quilt. The binding is also picked out, a rich blueberry shot cotton which blends beautifully with the sashing fabric. And the backing? Who knows? But I’m feeling nudged towards rose pink…

Right, back to the sewing machine. It’s January, and Esther’s month for F²F², so I can’t show what I’m up to – it’s a secret!

To make up for lost time, I’ve been doing a lot of sewing in the last couple of days.

Block 11

Block 12

And here is the result of some of it. Two more hatboxes for my Bee, Myself and I selfish sewing project. I’m now officially one third of the way through the blocks I need, and I’ve picked out the next bunch of candidate fabrics. It’s all looking a bit pale and pastel-y up there on the design wall, so I’m going for stronger backgrounds and more saturated colour for the next round.

There’s a small space to one side of the Grey Nomad quilt pinned up on my design wall, and I decided it was time to put up the seven Hatbox Quilt blocks I’d made so far.

Once that was done, I was glad I had. I’m subconsciously selecting bright colours in preference to the more muted colours also in my Hatbox fabric collection. So I need to do a few more of the paler fabrics, otherwise it’ll get unbalanced. I also seem to have rather too many reds…

These two latest blocks, Nos. 8 and 9, do have red in them, but they’re also balanced by other colours, and No. 9 has a paler background. Next time I’ll be more conscious in deciding what colour to do next.

There’s a bunch of us doing our selfish sewing as part of Bee, Myself and I, and if you’d like to see what they’re up to, scroll down till you see the bee button in the left side bar, and click through.

Luckily these hatbox blocks are quite quick to make, nicely self-contained, and I’m in no hurry to finish the quilt. Very slow and steady is just about my pace at the moment; I’m sure the activity outlined in my last post explained why 🙂

Purple’s another colour I don’t keep a lot of, but I couldn’t resist this sweet violets print, so perfect for a hatbox. Note to self: go for one of your more modern prints for the next one, or you’ll be heartily sick of vintage and reproduction prints before the quilt’s done.

I have had a busy couple of months as you may have grasped, but am determined to get the Hatbox Quilt done… eventually.

So, here’s the sixth and latest block. This fabric was a surprising purchase for me, as I’m absolutely not a yellow fan and don’t usually go for reproduction style fabrics, but it just seemed right for the concept and brings some balance to all the other colours I’ll be using, which seem to be heavy on the red/blue/green parts of the colour wheel. Funny, that, so unlike me…

Turning out these blocks is getting faster. The process is still a bit fiddly, what with two thread colours, hand basting, trimming out at the back, etc, but I’ve made a few now, and don’t have to stop and check and think so often. And I’m not frightened of the Y seam any more. It’s turning out with perfect corners, even if that’s completely pointless, as the corner is cut away at the back!

The others in the Bee may or may not be posting. It’s a no-obligation Bee, so it depends on whether we have time or not. This month, I managed to get one done. Hop over to Carla’s blog to see what it’s all about, or you can click on the Bee, Myself and I button in the left hand column to go straight to the Bee page, where there’s a list of all the other participants.